Food bank director creates burger for charity

COLUMBIA — Peggy Kirkpatrick wants to make sure that no child goes to school hungry.

That's why she hopes to win this year's Great American Burger Challenge, where Columbia personalities were invited to create custom burgers. Each designer hamburger is on Stadium Grill's menu for a week with online voting on the restaurant's website.

The burger that receives the most online votes will be served at Stadium Grill for 12 months, and 50 cents from the sale of each burger will go to a charity selected by the winner.

Kirkpatrick, the executive director of The Food Bank for Central & Northeast Missouri, is one of six competitors from the Columbia area.

The other finalists are Joe Moseley, vice president of public affairs for Shelter Insurance Co.; Megan Murphy of KOMU-TV; Susan Bell, general manager of Hampton Inn & Suites; John Figueroa, associate head coach of MU gymnastics; and Brent Beshore, CEO of AdVentures.

Each competitor represents a different local charity. Votes for Kirkpatrick’s burger will support the food bank's Buddy Pack Program, which provides backpacks full of kid-friendly, nutritious food to elementary school children.

Kirkpatrick created the "Eye of the Tiger" burger, topped with onion straws, chipotle/BBQ mayonnaise and smoked gouda cheese. Her burger debuted at the restaurant Friday and will be served through Oct. 20, when the competition ends.

Kirkpatrick enlisted the help of her sister, Sharon Harl, who she said is a gourmet cook, to come up with the ingredients.

"Calling it the 'Eye of the Tiger' was a no-brainer," Kirkpatrick said. "Gary Pinkel and the football team are huge supporters through the Missouri Tigers SCORE Against Hunger campaign."

In the SCORE Against Hunger campaign, donations can be made to the food bank for every point the Tigers score, for every game they win or simply as a one-time donation.

This is the second year of the burger challenge, said Joe Collins, manager at Stadium Grill.